Readers' views: Aramoana film and US school shootings

A film about the Aramoana killings has been awarded an R15 rating, despite opposition from some local people to it being filmed at all. The film's director says he is pleased at the rating because it means the film can be studied by young people.

The decision from the New Zealand Censor's office comes as the US had its third school shooting in the past week.

Should the Aramoana film have been made? Does media coverage of these events help people to understand why they happen and prevent them happening again, or does it do the opposite?

>> R15 rating for Aramoana film pleases director
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>> Send us your views

Having seen

Out Of The Blue

at the premiere in Toronto, I have to say calls to ban it are misplaced. Yes, it's based on an actual event; yes, it depicts random violence taking place; but it can't possibly be considered to glorify what took place, or encourage others to try it. Sarkies' film raises more questions than it answers; it doesn't attempt to rationalise or explain David Gray's actions, and it certainly doesn't provide a pat Hollywood ending where a hero rides in to save the day. What it shows is a community struggling to cope with what one of their own is doing, from the neighbours taking shelter overnight to police and rescue services faced with impossible choices. If there is a lasting message to be drawn from the film, it's this: that we really need to understand and look after each other in our society, rather than pushing people out to the edge of the community, isolating them. Banning the film would be burying the event; I think in time

Out Of The Blue

will be seen as an important reflection on New Zealand's society, then and now - and one that shouldn't be suppressed. (And thanks to Chief Censor Bill Hastings for giving the film a realistic rating, based on what it actually IS as a film, not what people who haven't seen it are afraid it might be.)

- - - Posted 12.09pm Oct 4, 2006 by Robert Catto

No, I dont agree with it being made this soon after the event. Placing a cloak of acceptance around it by saying that 'it shows how the community gathered round and supported each other during the event' does not qualify showing the horrific events that did occur. Showing the film to young people to study will mean that someone somewhere will use it as fuel for their own disturbing thoughts. Media today are too quick to show the 'how did' these crimes occur which places the means and howto infront of the wrong people. Glorifying these events by immortalising the perpetrators in film sends the wrong message. We need to show respect for the survivors and leave it where it belongs. In the past.

- - - Posted 10.30am Oct 4 by Jean Fleming

The biggest risk to the United States is not terrorism from abroad. The biggest risk is from social degradation from within, and this is manisfested in the fact that more Americans are killed each week by Americans, than the total number of Americans killed by terrorists in the last 10 years. That the war on terror should really be a war on human sociology and human behaviour. That terrorism is not generic to one ethnicity or another, but attributed to human nature itself. The sooner we look within, the sooner we address the cause of violence at internationl, federal and local levels. Anything else is just dealing wuith symptoms, not cause.

- - - Posted 10.17am Oct 4 by Simon Caldwell

Not sure if the film should have been made or not. I don't see what it accomplishes. What is it with independent film makers in NZ? They tend to like producing films that are depressing or violent or deranged in some way. Why can't they make more 'nice' films? Something more like The World's Fastest Indian. We need more feel-good films. There are enough depressing things going on the world already without dwelling on the violent past.

- - - Posted 9.45am Oct 4 by Joseph Francis

I think the way the media tends to focus on the misguided concept that more gun control will prevent tragedies like this from re-occurring is flawed and misleading to the general public. The key issue is creating a method of identifying people who are suffering mental illness or psycopathic tendencies at the grassroots community based level. This way early warning signs such as chronic depression can be identified and successfully treated.

- - - Posted 9.22am Oct 4 by Prashantha